diff --git a/tests/entrypoints/openai/test_serving_responses.py b/tests/entrypoints/openai/test_serving_responses.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..0cce88016092
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/entrypoints/openai/test_serving_responses.py
@@ -0,0 +1,129 @@
+# SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+# SPDX-FileCopyrightText: Copyright contributors to the vLLM project
+
+from contextlib import AsyncExitStack
+from unittest.mock import AsyncMock, MagicMock
+
+import pytest
+import pytest_asyncio
+
+from vllm.entrypoints.context import ConversationContext
+from vllm.entrypoints.openai.protocol import ResponsesRequest
+from vllm.entrypoints.openai.serving_responses import OpenAIServingResponses
+from vllm.entrypoints.tool_server import ToolServer
+
+
+class MockConversationContext(ConversationContext):
+    """Mock conversation context for testing"""
+
+    def __init__(self):
+        self.init_tool_sessions_called = False
+        self.init_tool_sessions_args = None
+        self.init_tool_sessions_kwargs = None
+
+    def append_output(self, output) -> None:
+        pass
+
+    async def call_tool(self):
+        return []
+
+    def need_builtin_tool_call(self) -> bool:
+        return False
+
+    def render_for_completion(self):
+        return []
+
+    async def init_tool_sessions(self, tool_server, exit_stack, request_id,
+                                 mcp_tools):
+        self.init_tool_sessions_called = True
+        self.init_tool_sessions_args = (tool_server, exit_stack, request_id,
+                                        mcp_tools)
+
+    async def cleanup_session(self) -> None:
+        pass
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def mock_serving_responses():
+    """Create a mock OpenAIServingResponses instance"""
+    serving_responses = MagicMock(spec=OpenAIServingResponses)
+    serving_responses.tool_server = MagicMock(spec=ToolServer)
+    return serving_responses
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def mock_context():
+    """Create a mock conversation context"""
+    return MockConversationContext()
+
+
+@pytest.fixture
+def mock_exit_stack():
+    """Create a mock async exit stack"""
+    return MagicMock(spec=AsyncExitStack)
+
+
+class TestInitializeToolSessions:
+    """Test class for _initialize_tool_sessions method"""
+
+    @pytest_asyncio.fixture
+    async def serving_responses_instance(self):
+        """Create a real OpenAIServingResponses instance for testing"""
+        # Create minimal mocks for required dependencies
+        engine_client = MagicMock()
+        engine_client.get_model_config = AsyncMock()
+
+        model_config = MagicMock()
+        model_config.hf_config.model_type = "test"
+        model_config.get_diff_sampling_param.return_value = {}
+
+        models = MagicMock()
+
+        tool_server = MagicMock(spec=ToolServer)
+
+        # Create the actual instance
+        instance = OpenAIServingResponses(
+            engine_client=engine_client,
+            model_config=model_config,
+            models=models,
+            request_logger=None,
+            chat_template=None,
+            chat_template_content_format="auto",
+            tool_server=tool_server,
+        )
+
+        return instance
+
+    @pytest.mark.asyncio
+    async def test_initialize_tool_sessions(self, serving_responses_instance,
+                                            mock_context, mock_exit_stack):
+        """Test that method works correctly with only MCP tools"""
+
+        request = ResponsesRequest(input="test input", tools=[])
+
+        # Call the method
+        await serving_responses_instance._initialize_tool_sessions(
+            request, mock_context, mock_exit_stack)
+        assert mock_context.init_tool_sessions_called is False
+
+        # Create only MCP tools
+        tools = [
+            {
+                "type": "web_search_preview"
+            },
+            {
+                "type": "code_interpreter",
+                "container": {
+                    "type": "auto"
+                }
+            },
+        ]
+
+        request = ResponsesRequest(input="test input", tools=tools)
+
+        # Call the method
+        await serving_responses_instance._initialize_tool_sessions(
+            request, mock_context, mock_exit_stack)
+
+        # Verify that init_tool_sessions was called
+        assert mock_context.init_tool_sessions_called
diff --git a/vllm/entrypoints/openai/serving_responses.py b/vllm/entrypoints/openai/serving_responses.py
index eaeab3360c60..4e7418920954 100644
--- a/vllm/entrypoints/openai/serving_responses.py
+++ b/vllm/entrypoints/openai/serving_responses.py
@@ -445,6 +445,19 @@ def _make_request_with_harmony(
 
         return messages, [prompt_token_ids], [engine_prompt]
 
+    async def _initialize_tool_sessions(self, request: ResponsesRequest,
+                                        context: ConversationContext,
+                                        exit_stack: AsyncExitStack):
+        # we should only initialize the tool session if the request needs tools
+        if len(request.tools) == 0:
+            return
+        mcp_tools = {
+            tool.server_label: tool
+            for tool in request.tools if tool.type == "mcp"
+        }
+        await context.init_tool_sessions(self.tool_server, exit_stack,
+                                         request.request_id, mcp_tools)
+
     async def responses_full_generator(
         self,
         request: ResponsesRequest,
@@ -461,12 +474,8 @@ async def responses_full_generator(
 
         async with AsyncExitStack() as exit_stack:
             try:
-                mcp_tools = {
-                    tool.server_label: tool
-                    for tool in request.tools if tool.type == "mcp"
-                }
-                await context.init_tool_sessions(self.tool_server, exit_stack,
-                                                 request.request_id, mcp_tools)
+                await self._initialize_tool_sessions(request, context,
+                                                     exit_stack)
                 async for _ in result_generator:
                     pass
             except asyncio.CancelledError:
@@ -1650,12 +1659,10 @@ def _increment_sequence_number_and_return(
         async with AsyncExitStack() as exit_stack:
             processer = None
             if self.use_harmony:
-                mcp_tools = {
-                    tool.server_label: tool
-                    for tool in request.tools if tool.type == "mcp"
-                }
-                await context.init_tool_sessions(self.tool_server, exit_stack,
-                                                 request.request_id, mcp_tools)
+                # TODO: in streaming, we noticed this bug:
+                # https://github.com/vllm-project/vllm/issues/25697
+                await self._initialize_tool_sessions(request, context,
+                                                     exit_stack)
                 processer = self._process_harmony_streaming_events
             else:
                 processer = self._process_simple_streaming_events